Z is for...

Zoom Theme Song...Zoomers, 1976.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

Yes! We made it to the end of the alphabet. Before I settled on this super swell seventies serenade, I had filled in an alphabetical list of television shows I watched as a kid. Either way, the letter z was staying the same.

This show? This song? Well, let's just say it was tough for me to accept that I was not going to be a Zoomer. Oh, how I wanted to hang out with those gruboovuby kubids! How I longed to know the secret of Fanny Dooley. I liked to think they wanted me, specifically and only me, to pack my bags and head to Boston. ("Please come to Boston." She said "No, won't you come home to me?" Sorry Dave Loggins, I just couldn't fit you in. Please accept this shout out and link as a sign of my seventies love.)

Come on and zooma zooma zoom

Come on and zooma zooma zooma zoom

Everybodys' having fun

Everybody's number one

I'm Andrea!

1976 with some of my loyal fans. Did you have that bedspread too?

Just in case you think song lyrics are the only thing taking up valuable space in my brain...

Write Zoom, z-double O-m

Box 350

Boston, Mass  O-2-1-3-4

Send it to Zoom!

I hope you've enjoyed this trip back in time as much as I have. Catch you on the flip side!

Y is for...

You Light Up My Life...Debby Boone, 1977.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

Darn it! Where are my rollerskates?!? Why is it so bright in here, and where are those disco lights? This song finds me eight years old, trying to perfect my turns, as I roll solo around the rink.

Waiting for someone to sing me his song

So many dreams I kept deep inside me

Alone in the dark, but now you've come along

Make no mistake, he did not come skating along...and I probably fell trying to exit the rink.

I feel like this is the perfect time to let you all know how much I appreciate you joining me for this month's seventies serenade.

Finally a chance to say "Hey I love you"
Never again to be all alone

Well, that was almost creepy. How about just thank you...

And you light up my life
You give me hope to carry on
You light up my days
And fill my nights with song

Seriously, thanks for singing along!

X is for...

Xtras and Xceptions

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

A lot of my musical taste and wisdom in the seventies came from my father. We spent many a car ride together entertaining ourselves, and each other, with song. It is not very often that we get to go back and relive childhood memories, and sometimes when we try we are disappointed. I got lucky. I only had to ask my father once to agree to making a singing video. Then last week, I actually managed to have my camera ready and cornered him before we got out of his car. This video starts with our discussion over what songs we had on our lists of favorites from our seventies road trip concerts.

Please excuse the editing I did. The camera started beeping at me at one point and I panicked as my father had just embarked on a story about a dance contest he took part in. I got things back on track though. Oh, maybe excuse the singing voice as well? So, um, this is me and my dad...

I was not disappointed in the least!

W is for...

Weekend in New England...Barry Manilow, 1976.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

Go ahead and exhale, Mr. Manilow has arrived! It was along wait, and believe me, Barry was not a patient man. He tried to bust in at several other letters. I had to fight off his Daybreak, Looks Like We Made It, and This One's For You advances, and there were nowhere near enough tissues to get me through Mandy. Things won't be quite the same without my enormous brown earphones, but let's do this...

Hey Mom, is it the same listening to this song without my sweet soprano drowning out Barry? I truly only remember you tapping me to lower my volume once. One more reason you are awesome! Wait, here comes my favorite part...

I feel the change comin'
I feel the wind blow
I feel brave and daring
I feel my blood flow

(deep breath)

With you I can bring out
All the love that I have
With you there's a heaven
So earth ain't so bad

(big finish)

And tell me
When will our eyes meet
When can I touch you
When will this strong yearning end
And when will I hold you again

V is for...

Ventura Highway...America, 1972.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

Tell me, how long you gonna stay here, Joe?

Until the letter Z? Well that is fantastic!! I am happy to have you. Can I interest you in a piece of grass to chew on?

'Cause the free wind is blowin' through your hair
All the days surround your daylight there
Seasons crying no despair
Alligator lizards in the air, in the air

Sure the song sounds all nice and peaceful, lulling us in, but what on earth is an alligator lizard? Do they fly? I think I shall trot off to safety...on a horse with no name, of course.

U is for...

Undercover Angel...Alan O'Day, 1977.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

Oh, come on, admit that this song is tucked away in some dark corner of your brain. That place with the bell bottoms, a comically large comb in your back pocket, giant Gobstoppers, and macrame plant hangers.

I said "What?" She said "Ooh-ooh-ooh whee."
I said "All right!" She said "Love me, love me, love me!"

I never really knew many of the words, or at least not the correct ones. Case in point...

midnight fantasy = midnight Tennessee

Even if I'd had a lyric sheet, I see now that I would not have understood what I was reading. This was not a private detective, undercover police officer type of thing.

Undercover angel, answer to my prayer,
You made me know that there's a love for me out there
Somewhere.

T is for...

Take Me Home Country Roads...
John Denver, 1971.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

I found this to be the greatest hit on his greatest hits album we had. This was the song I thought was going to catapult me and my fabulous voice to fame. Even before the day I was introduced to the giant brown earphones, I had this vinyl, a black fold-up record player on a table in my bedroom, a few coins if the needle skipped, and a chair to stand on. My stuffed animals were the lucky guests at my private concerts, where I commanded that room.

Country roads take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain momma
Take me home country roads

I was a kid growing up in Central New York, who had visited West Virginia once, so I have no idea why I felt this song so much. My favorite part was this change-up...

I hear her voice
In the morning hour she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
And driving down the road I get a feeling 
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday

Then again, my encore was often something off the Mary Poppins soundtrack. Considering I did not have a nanny who dropped in on an umbrella, there really was no logic to my song choices.

S is for...

Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word...
Elton John, 1976.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

This song is from another album in our well worn lyric sheet collection. 

My mom had these totally awesome big brown earphones for our stereo system, and I completely misunderstood the point of wearing them. Instead of keeping our apartment tranquil by listening to the music quietly on my own, I sang...loudly. It can be fairly difficult to hear one's own voice while wearing earphones, and the stereo cranked. Apparently I was under the impression that she would much rather hear my voice, and none of the instruments, than the actual artists.

I really did not have any ideas for what Sir Elton should have said when sorry seemed to be the hardest word, other than sorry. I still felt badly for him though, as the sadness turned to absurdity.

It's sad, so sad
It's a sad sad situation
And it's getting
More and more absurd

What have I got to do

When sorry seems to be the hardest word?

R is for...

Rainy Days and Mondays...The Carpenters, 1971.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

Oh, the dulcet tones of the Carpenters. They covered the full range of feelings, from on top of the world to this one...

What I've got they used to call the blues
Nothin' is really wrong
Feelin' like I don't belong
Walkin' around, some kind of lonely clown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

There was no way my child self of the seventies could have possibly understood the foreshadowing in this song. Many years of Mondays and rainy days have made the picture much more clear.

Hangin' around, nothing to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

Q is for...

Queen Bee...Barbra Streisand, 1976.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

A Star is Born? The movie? You mean there was more than just an incredible soundtrack? I was not old enough back then to partake. Instead, I fabricated my own story from the pictures on the album cover, inserting some version of of myself wherever I saw fit. Kris Kristofferson was so dreamy!

The black, black widow is sittin' in the middle 
Of the web, it's the fly she seeks
You may be her lover, but you never will recover
Cause she aint had a bite for weeks

You think you're the same, cause you got the same name
But the widow has a mobile home
Remember what I told you, she got eight arms to hold you
And she's never gonna let you roam

I loved the lyrics to this song and the punch Barbra packed into the delivery of each one.

My favorite part...

So, in conclusion, it's an optical illusion
If you think that we're the weaker race
Men got the muscle, but the ladies got the hustle
And the truth is staring in your face

Love it still!

P is for...

Peace Train...Cat Stevens, 1971

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

    

Now I've been happy lately

Thinking about the good things to come

And I believe it could be

Something good has begun

Oh, the voice and the stories. There was this kind of world, a wild world if you will, that Cat Stevens created for himself and invited us in. There is something so seventies about this song, but it is also timeless.

Here I am in 1971...

Get your bags together

Go bring your good friends too

'Cause it's getting nearer

It soon will be with you

O is for...

Operator...Jim Croce, 1972.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

I so loved this song when I was a kid. In fact, I pretty much did my own concerts with the entire You Don't Mess Around With Jim album. 

The way this song unfolds, with Jim's conflicted thoughts on making the phonecall, intrigued me. Of course I believed the story to be true, as I did with all storyteller songs. I could actually picture Jim and his glorious mustache standing at a payphone conversing with the operator.

Isn't that the way they say it goes?

But let's forget all that

And give me the number if you can find it

So I can call just to tell 'em

I'm fine and to show 
I've overcome the blow

I've learned to take it well

I only wish my words could just convince myself

That is just wasn't real

But that's not the way it feels

I usually imagined it raining too, just to add to the dreariness of the situation.

Operator

Oh can you help me place this call?

'Cause I can't read the number

That you just gave me

There's something in my eye

You know it happens every time

N is for...

Nobody Does It Better...Carly Simon, 1977.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

This song rolled a lot of sentiment into its notes, and Carly sang it so well. I had no real thoughts for what "it" was, and just assumed it was a catch-all phrase. As much as I wanted to be told I was the best, by someone other than my parents, I also wanted to find someone who I thought was the best...again, besides my parents.

Nobody does it better
Makes me feel bad for the rest

Really, was it even worth starting a search in my elementary school, or would I just feel badly for all of those boys?

Nobody does it better

Though sometimes I wish someone would...

Although I am not sure I could have done first day of third grade in 1977 any better.

I just want to clear up any confusion you may share with my fourteen-year-old daughter. That is most definitely not a bowl haircut. It is a Dorothy Hamill.

M is for...

Mercedes-Benz...Janis Joplin, 1970.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

If I had to pick the top three songs from the "road trips with my father" play list, this one right here shines. (I cannot tell you the others as they may still show up.) My father's cars typically did not have radios, so we just sang what we wanted, how we wanted. He taught me Mercedes-Benz very early on. I don't know what all of my five-year-old friends were singing back then, but I doubt it was being belted out with as much feeling as when we sang Janis.

EVERYBODY...
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends
Worked hard all my lifetime no help from my friends
So oh Lord, wont you buy me a Mercedes-Benz?

That's it!

One take to record that song, and she was gone three days later.

Once again, I cannot limit this to one song for this letter. My mom is a fan of Janis Joplin as well, and often played her Pearl album. There were songs that found their way into tiny nooks of my brain. I did not even realize they were there, until hearing the songs years later, and being temporarily puzzled by their familiarity. This is one of those...

Me & Bobby McGee...Janis Joplin, 1970.

Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose...

Hey, hey, hey Bobby McGee!

L is for...

Lonely Night...Captain & Tennille, 1976.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

Lonely night

I cry myself to sleep

Tell me what am I gonna do...

Angel Face, what happened? Toni? Daryl? I had to find out the news when I saw it trending, even after all of the days we spent together. 

In the summer of 1977, my mother took me to see the Captain & Tennille in concert. (Awesome, I know!) Daily singalongs with them on our stereo had me more than ready. Can't you turn back the hands of time, to the days when you were mine, and each other's? 

I promise you I'll change my ways
I promise you love's here to stay
Hey, little man depend on me
I'll be yours for eternity

Sadly, that didn't work out quite as planned. Guess someone will have to Shop Around now.

Two hip chicks in the summer of 1977.

K is for...

Knock Three Times...Tony Orlando & Dawn, 1971.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

I am going to start right off by admitting that for quite some time I thought these three people were Tony, Orlando and Dawn. I did not realize that Dawn was sharing a name.

I have had this song stuck in my head for at least four days of this month. Finally we have reached the letter to set it free...into your head! You're welcome.

Hey girl whatcha doin down there
Dancin alone every night
While I live right above you

I had these visions of some matchmaking apartment complex...

Knock three times on the ceiling if you want me
Twice on the pipe, if the answer is no

...that must have had an exposed plumbing system.

J is for...

Just the Way You Are...Billy Joel, 1977.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

When I initially thought about Billy Joel, it was hard for me to remember the days before 1980's Glass Houses. That album, and its lyric sheet, took me completely by storm. I did dabble a bit before then though, as songs like Movin' Out, Only the Good Die Young, The Stranger and Scenes From an Italian Restaurant played as a soundtrack in the background of my life, leaving their indelible mark. Words I did not even know I had committed to memory would come out over the years as these songs stood the test of time.

This song though, Billy telling me he loved me just the way I was, offered such reassurance. It gave that sense of hope that not only was I an incredible eight year old, but also that someday would find someone who shared the sentiment. It was always about that for me, these songs serving not only as some sort of foreshadowing for what I could expect relationships to be, but I fully expected to have songs written about and sung to me. Danger, danger! (I got my head on straight in the eighties though when I gleaned my wisdom about love from John Hughes movies. More danger!! But I digress...)

I don't want clever conversation
I never want to work that hard
I just want someone that I can talk to
I want you just the way you are

By 1979, I was trying some new fashion though...

...and clearly rocked it! (I blame that sassy Julie McCoy and the rest of the fashion forward Love Boat crew.)

Don't go changing to try and please me
You never let me down before

Thanks for stopping by!

I is for...

It's Too Late...Carole King, 1971.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

My favorite record album in my Aunt Tina's collection had to have been Tapestry. Carole's engaging voice, the beat and the storytelling words she sang, made it impossible to not join in. I loved the rhythm this song started with, as she began her day...

Stayed in bed all morning

Just to pass the time

The song is rather sad on one level to my adult ears, but Carole's voice was so hopeful and reassuring that I just sang along in bliss. After all, they really did try to make it.

There'll be good times again for me and you

But we just can't stay together can't you feel it too

Still I'm glad for what we had 

And how I once loved you

Just for the record, in return for all the times Aunt Tina let me hang out in her room listening to music, I did return the favor by inviting her to some swell tea parties.

OK, I tried, but...Impossible! I cannot limit myself to one "I" song from Tapestry. Inconceivable! So without further ado...

I Feel the Earth Move...Carole King, 1971.

Go ahead. Hit play, crank up the volume and get up...you know you want to! Feel that earth...move...under your feet!

There we go. All set? Cool. Have an Incredible day!

H is for...

Hopelessly Devoted to You...
Olivia Newton-John, 1978.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

Did I love the movie Grease? Let's see, I had a pretty substantial sized stack of the hot pink edged trading cards, a well-worn record album, awesome hand jive skills, a fairly certain belief that I would someday meet my first steady boyfriend on a beachy summer vacation, and a fantastic Grease themed party for my tenth birthday.

My black leather jacket transformation was still four years away.

I must point out that super seventies seagull mural that my mom painted in our apartment living room. Yes, my mom is that awesome, but no, she has not touched the walls with that kind of flair in my current home.

On with the serenade...

Guess mine is not the first heart broken
My eyes are not the first to cry
I'm not the first to know
There's just no getting over you

The way for the proper way of handling a breakup was paved here for me. No notion of putting on your big girl panties and moving on, but instead, sing sad songs on somebody's porch. Be hopeless! That ought to draw him back.

Oh Sandy! Ready yourself for the big part...

BUT. NOW. There's nowhere to hide

Since you pushed my love aside

I'm out of my head

Hopelessly devoted to you

G is for...

Go Your Own Way...Fleetwood Mac, 1977.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

Please note: I realize the sound quality on this video may not be the best, but I swear that Lindsey Buckingham rocking that 'fro makes it worth the small sacrifice. I also figured that, like me, you'll be singing too loud to care.

I am sure my mom was thrilled that the lyric sheet was included, thereby elevating my singalong experience. Oh how I loved this album! It is hard to put all of the awesomeness in this one song for this one letter.

Loving you isn't the right thing to do
How can I ever change things that I feel?
If I could, maybe I'd give you my world
How can I when you won't take it from me?

I used to pour over the foldout lyric sheet, learning everyone's name, matching last names, pouring over the photos. I thought if I just sang loud enough and wished hard enough nobody would go their own way. Stevie, get your head out of the clouds and listen to him!

You can call it another lonely day
Another lonely day

The record, the lyric sheet and a fantastic picture of mom and me from right around when this album was released. Her hair may or may not have been inspired by Lindsey's.

F is for...

Fernando...ABBA, 1976.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

Mamma Mia! Thanks for taking a chance on me, despite my not being much of a dancing queen. Knowing me, knowing you, I almost had to issue an S.O.S. Where was I going to fit this seventies super band? Alphabet fun, that's the name of the game. Letter F was free, and just the right fit for Fernando...he is the winner and, you know, the winner takes it all!

I kind of remember having just one big Abba song in my head as a kid. I just put them all into one looping medley, giving me optimal opportunity to belt out every single chorus.

If I had to do the same again 

I would my friend, Fernando

E is for...

Emotion...Bee Gees and Samantha Sang, 1978.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

It's over and done, 

But the heartache lives on inside...

Wait, no, that's not right. We're just finishing the first week of the challenge...phew! 

As a kid, I spent a lot of quality time with the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, which left me completely unphased about being too young to see the movie itself. My a-z list would have seemed incomplete without some Bee Gees love. Since I had the letter E open, I decided to let Barry and the boys bring Samantha Sang along to their groove fest.

And where are you now, now that I need you?

Tears on my pillow wherever you go

I'll cry me a river that leads to your ocean

That's what they said, but let me tell you what this girl...

Please note fashionable stick pin in collar. 

...who turned nine in 1978, thought they said:

I'll cry me a river that leads to erosion.

Apparently I was very eco-conscious at a young age. Not only were these artists completely heartbroken and soggy, but I assumed they had environmental concerns to grapple with as well.

Thank you for visiting...

But if you don't come back

Come home to me, darling

You know that there'll be nobody left in this world to hold me tight

Nobody left in this world to kiss goodnight

Sorry, the emotion took me over!

D is for...

Diamond Girl...Seals & Crofts, 1973.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

My aunt is twelve years older than I am, so that means she was sixteen when I was four, and that means she was basically one of the coolest people ever. (She still is quite frankly.) I used to spend a lot of time at my grandparents' house, which was made infinitely more fun by the fact that Aunt Tina lived there as well. 

Aloha from Aunt Tina and me in 1977.

I was flooded with nostalgia today when I was at my grandparents' house. I walked into the room that used to belong to Aunt Tina, and remembered the joy I used to feel when I got invited in. I could still picture where the stereo was, the cat doorstop and the rest of the treasures that used to adorn the space. The troll dolls with their green and orange hair braided together were a favorite. (My recall for these details, as important as they certainly are, may explain why I had no room for any actual historical facts and figures in school.) There was a steady stream of good music coming from the speakers. One of the classic 8-tracks in her collection was Seals & Crofts. I loved the music, and the opportunity to just hang out.

And so our true voyage into the sappy, sweet, soft-rock serenades of the seventies begins...

Oh my love, you're like a precious stone

Part of earth where heaven has rained on

Makes no difference where you are

Day or night time, you're like a shining star

How could I shine without you

When it's about you that I am?

The a-z challenge is here! Thanks for stopping by for a few bars. 

I will be responding to comments via email when available, and here in comments when it is not.

C is for...

Cats in the Cradle...Harry Chapin, 1974.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

Oh how I loved this song when I was a child, young enough to be excited by the notion of a yarn game and some nursery rhyme lyrics. Back then I thought the message had something to do with it being okay for fathers to be busy.

"Can you teach me to throw?" 
I said "Not today, I got a lot to do" 
He said "That's okay."

The concept was a little foreign to me still, as my father didn't live with me by the time I was four, but I never once felt like he was too busy for me. We always had a good time when we were together, so I just figured these people would as well. One of the things we did a lot was sing. My father taught me so many absolutely incredible songs, some of which will show up later in this challenge. Sometimes we even had the words right.

My dad, his awesome outfit, me, and my grandfather in 1975.

 As I got older, and started paying attention to the second half of the song, I found it to be one of the saddest ones I had ever heard (aside from Taxi). Still, I never stopped singing and loving it. Harry Chapin's ability to tell a complete story while pulling us into his world in four minute bursts was incredible. 

The a-z challenge is here! Thanks for stopping by for a few bars. 

I will be responding to comments via email when available, and here in comments when it is not.

B is for...

Bridge Over Troubled Water...
Simon & Garfunkel, 1970.

A Serenade of Seventies songs, from the soundtrack of my life, is my theme for the A-Z challenge this year.

I feel like I truly grew up with and into this song. There was never any question that I loved it. Can you possibly deny the beauty of it? Well, of course you can, but please don't, not right now in the middle of my singing (that you fortunately cannot hear).

When you're weary, feeling small
When tears are in your eyes. I will dry them all.
I'm on your side when times get rough
And friends just can't be found

I know there was a period of time when I thought this song was referring to parents, because in the mind of an elementary school kid, who else loves you like that. 

The a-z challenge is here! Thanks for stopping by for a few bars. 

I will be responding to comments via email when available, and here in comments when it is not.